The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) is likely to approve the revised phase-wise quota of merit-based distribution of laptops for the students of Balochistan province from 6 percent to 18 percent.
The Planning Commission has submitted a summary to the ECNEC which stated that the sponsor has provided the merit criteria for Laptop distribution along with the cost breakup of a laptop merit criteria and cost breakup of a laptop capital cost.
As per the merit criteria, Laptops will be distributed in all degree programs purely on merit and the quota for each degree program will be determined as per enrollment.
- Students have secured 70 percent marks for the semester system (2.88 CGPA) and 60 percent marks for annual system students.
- BS 1st Semester Students will be required to provide the HSSC marks, which will be converted into CGPA accordingly. However, MS/Ph.D. 1st Semester Students will be required to add the last degree program numbers
- CGPA/ GPA to Percentage conversion Shall be governed by the defined formula.
- The top meritorious students against the allocated quota of each department/ program will be considered for the “award of laptops as per their respective quota (year-wise or semester-wise).
- Year-wise allocation will be followed for BS/Diploma programs, whereas, semester-wise allocation System will be followed for MS/MPhil, or equivalent Degree programs, and their respective quota/ allocation in merit.
Official documents revealed that the PM Laptops Scheme was announced as one of the initiatives launched under the Prime Minister’s Youth Schemes in 2013 for five years. A total of 500,000 laptops were procured and distributed in two phases under PPRA Rules amongst the students as per defined, criteria of the announced scheme.
The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan was entrusted to execute the scheme and devise a criteria/ mechanism for the distribution of laptops under this scheme. Moreover, the PM Youth Laptop Scheme Phase-Ill is ongoing with the scope of 100,000 Laptop computers to be distributed among Meritorious students in the year 2023. In addition, as a Prime Minister’s Initiative, the “Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme” has also been approved in the budget on 6th June 2023 & included in PSDP FY 2023-24.
The project was discussed in the ECNEC Meeting held on July 19, 2023, and was conditionally approved. As a follow-up to the decision of the ECNEC, the sponsors have submitted a modified PC-1.
